Plague Anthology
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A Prayer to “The Cool One” – India
Fevers are not uncommon in India and it is thought that different communities sought protection from their local deities, before the coming of the Vedic gods, some 4000 years ago. They probably predate cholera, which may have originated in the Subcontinent, and smallpox – traces of which are found on Egyptian mummies 3000 years ago,…
Venice in Lockdown – August 1576
Venice was one of the most international and active cities in Europe at this time and, because its’ complex web of mercantile contacts with the Levant, North Africa and Asia, made it a nexus of routes, it was always at risk from disease and suffered repeated epidemics. The description here comes from what is considered…
Vaccine Hesitancy – Egypt 1866
Archaeological evidence suggests that smallpox has been present in Egypt for some 3000 years and later was a recurrent problem across the Islamic world, as well as Europe. Accurately described by the physician al-Razi in the 10th century, vaccination or variolation (transferring matter from a smallpox scab from one person to another through a scratch…
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Plague Anthology 